Yes – I stood in line for two hours today.   I’ll get to that in a bit…

Today the three of us (Rachel, Caroline and myself) went out to Montserrat about an hour out of the city known for its’ mountainous region and its’ monastery.

We wanted to start the day early as Caroline had a 6:30pm flight back to Italy tonight and we figured we had to be going back on a 2:30 train to ensure she got to the airport in time.

We met at the metro station at 9:30am and figured we would have a good 4 hours to see everything.

But what did we know?

None of us thought to look at what time the trains run from that station to Montserrat.   Turns out they only run every hour and that they run at 9:36, 10:36 and so of course we just missed one.   Problem #1.

We hung out for an hour waiting for the next train where we ended up sitting on the floor of the hour long train ride as all the seats were taken – fun times.

When we got off the train we quickly encountered problem #2.   It was apparently a holiday today and everyone and their dog was coming to Montserrat.   We stood in line for two hours for our turn on the cable car leading up to everything on the mountain top.

Two hours.   Ugh!

Poor Caroline quickly realized that there was no way she would be able to do anything and headed back into Barcelona 19 euros poorer with nothing to show for it except a great story of how she spent 19 euros to ride a train sitting on the floor only to head straight back again.

When Rachel and I finally made our way to the mountain top it was almost 3pm.   The day was virtually gone already and we had done nothing so far.   Rachel was on a mission to speed through and see as much as she could so she could head back to a shorter lineup as the masses would be returning later.

Myself, I wanted to take it in.   After taking all the time to get there I sure as hell was going to enjoy it and I didn’t care if I had to stand in line again on my way back – I had nothing to do and nowhere to go later.   I had all night.

So Rachel went her way and I went mine.   Our day trip of three had quickly turned into a day trip of one.   Not the worst thing in the world as exploring on your own, especially something like this, has its’ own rewards.

I went along one trail with plaques and shrines.   I also hiked up another trail and halfway up when someone told me it was another half hour to the end I figured I had done enough walking the last few days and headed back down.

At the bottom I entered the monastery and took it in as people lit candles and prayed.   There was a line to see a likeness of the Virgin Mary but I was done with lineups today so I headed back to get on a cable car to return home.

Of course there was another hour lineup for that but I endured it and made it back to the hostel a little tired but a little richer for the experience.

As if the hostel knew how long the day was for me they had a communal meal of seafood paella waiting for me (and the rest of the hostel) when I stepped in.

I ended the night with a great meal and some cards.

Tomorrow is my last day in Spain as I head to Rome early Easter Sunday morning and plan to spend most of it taking it easy and planning that leg of the trip.

I can’t wait!